An indian rhino was born in Amersfoort Zoo on 19 November. Last week, 15 December, it was named Sunanda. The name comes from Sanskrit and means 'child of the sun'. The name has been thought of by the Daltonschool De Gondelier from Amersfoort. The winning class revealed the name together with the major Lucas Bolsius.

Mother and her young currently stay in the inside enclosure. It is going very well with Sunanda en Saar. Sunanda drinks well, grows and continues to explore. The zoo is hoping that the two of them can be seen outside during the christmas holidays. Guests will be informed via http://www.babyneushoorn.nl.

Kodiak bear Ursus was found dead this morning in the outside enclosure of the bears at Emmen Zoo. He still reacted to his keeper yesterday evening but showed no signs of life this morning.

The vet was called but was only able to confirm that Ursus had died. Last week Ursus had been outside a lot. He refused to go to his night enclosure. Outside, he was sleeping a lot but this is normal for a bear at this time of year.

An autopsy shall reveal the cause of death.

Ursus was born in a Belgian Zoo in January 1987. As a young bear he was seen in the cinema movie l'ours (The Bear) in 1988. In January 1994, he came to Emmen with four other bears. A long time he was part of a group of Kodiak bears. However, in the last 1.5 years he had the bear enclosure all for himself.

Polar Bear Huggies, from Ouwehands Zoo, gave birth to two cubs on Thursday 01 December 2011. The keeper initially saw, via camera, three little polar bears but one appeared to have already been dead at birth. The birth of the twins is very special as there are very few polar bears born alive in zoos and stay alive.

The coming months remain touch and go. If everything goes well, then mother Huggies and her young can be seen 'nose to nose' in the polar bear enclosure.

Two asian lions were born on 13 November 2011. Lioness Shantee is the mother and Kumar is the father. Mum Shantee and her cubs will stay behind the scenes to give them the peace they need. For now everything appears to be going well and fingers crossed that it stays like this. Asian lioins are (in the wild as well as in zoos) rare and the breeding programme for this special animal can do with new additions.

Emmen Zoo is being cleared at the moment because one of the male elephants ended up in the empty gracht around the enclosure.

The elephant, aged 45, one of the oldest bulls in the park, lost one of his tusks due to his fall. He probably leaned forward because he saw something nice to eat. Subsequently his slipped into the empty gracht. Keepers are busy to lead the elephant via the gracht to his night enclosure.

As a precaution, visitors were escorted out of the park as male elephants can be unpredictable. He could be climbing out of the gracht. Furthermore, the keepers want to get the elephant calmly to his enclosure without being distracted by the watching public according to Emmen Zoo's speaksperson.

Giraffebaby Kimberley, who was born on 6 september, has spent a lot of time outside during the recent sunny days. She is the 67th giraffe that was born in Blijdorp and the second this year (Jani was already born 16 May). The two giraffebabies get along well with each other. Both mothers were also born in Blijdorp. Mother Marian in 2002 and Anne in 2003. Kimberley is the fourth born by Marian.

She drinks well but is still being treated for an inflammation on her navel. The Blijdorp herd consists now of eleven giraffes that live together with Koedoes and Thompson gazelles on the African Savanne. The giraffes in Blijdorp belong to the Somali giraffes which exist in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Blijdorp has Somali giraffes since the 1950s so in 52 years, 67 giraffes were born in Blijdorp Zoo and Blijdorp has a special link to giraffes. Already since it's opening in 1940 giraffes are in the logo of zoo.

Blijdorp Zoo has lionfish again in their collection since July. These bizarre fish haven't been in Blijdorp for years as lionfish normally come from the Indian and Pacific Ocean, areas that are not included in the routing through the Oceanium. In recent years lionfish seem to appear in increasing numbers in the Caribbean Sea. Nobody knows exactly how that came about but it is expected that Aquarium fish were set out in Florida and along the east coast of the US.

These venomous fish spread very fast in the Carribean sea. They were seen for the first time around Curacao around three years ago and in the meantime have quickly spread to big numbers there as well.

This led Blijdorp to decide to give five lionfish a space in the Oeceanium. They arrived in July and have been in quarantine behind the scenes. Since then they have been cleared and are now ready to be seen by the public.

The first litter of cheetah cubs ever to be born at Chester Zoo have stepped outside for the first time four weeks ago. Now, it was time for the nine-week-old cheetah cubs to have their first ever health check ups, and Chester Zoo is delighted to reveal first-time Mum, KT, has had 2 boys and 2 girls.

The rare cubs were checked by their vet team to determine their sex, fit them with microchips and give them their vaccinations.

Curator of Mammals, Tim Rowlands, said:

"They basically receive the same vaccines that a pet cat is given when it’s taken to the vets.

"The only difference is we're much more cautious about handling the cubs than we would be with domestic kittens.

"We worked in teams to complete the process quickly, before returning them to their mum KT as soon as possible. She's a very good mother – and is fiercely protective of her young cubs, so we certainly didn't want to hang around long."

Each of the Northern cheetah cubs – which are only found in northeast Africa in the wild - was also weighed and given a general check up.

Resident zoo vet, Gabby Drake, said:

"The cubs received a physical examination to check they are healthy and in good body condition.

“Happily, all four cubs – two boys and two girls - have been given a completely clean bill of health.”

The births are a real landmark achievement for the zoo, as it is the first time cheetahs have bred in Chester. The cubs are also the first northern cheetahs to been born anywhere in Europe for over twelve months.

Their arrival is cause for celebration not only for their hardworking zookeeper teams and visitors, but also the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme (EEP), with recent ICUN estimates suggesting very few Northern cheetahs now remain in the wild.

The cubs will remain here at Chester Zoo until they are ready to be moved to another European zoo as part of the EEP, designed to help ensure the future survival of the species.

Chester Zoo also supports conservation of cheetahs in Namibia, where populations are under threat from conflict with humans.

In the night from Friday to Saturday, a Giant Anteater was born.The delivery took a little longer than an hour. Immediately after birth, the young climbed onto its mother's back. It drank from its mother on Saturday and makes a good impression. It's the third Giant Anteater born at Artis. This is good news for the international breeding programme for this endangered species.

Gestation period and initial developmentThe gestation peirod of the Giant Anteater is about 6 month. The young climbs onto its mother's back directly after birth, the safe place where it will stay the first year to rest and sleep. Its almost invisible on the back because the stripes of the mother match those of the young. Giant Anteaters have a very distinct long snout and a 60 cm long tongue, a black/grey coloured fur and large claws on their front paws.

To allow mother and young some rest, they will initially stay in their inside enclosure.

The luck with births is continuing at Safaripark Beekse Bergen. In only three weeks, the group of wildebeest grew by thirteen youngsters. This enormous wave of births is more than welcome.

According to Lars Versteege from Safaripark Beekse Bergen is this a unique occasion. "The fact that blue wildebeest live in large groups and that we welcome a young regularly is no news but the breeding of thirteen blue wildebeest in one year is something special." As far as Safaripark Beekse Bergen could find out, no other European park has bred thirteen blue wildebeest in one year before. With thirteen births there is also a large amount of administration that comes with it. "Every animal gets its own registration number, name, earlobe number and chipnumber. We also register the date of birth and the name of the parents."

A wildebeest can stand within a few minutes and walks directly with its mother. By doing this, the chance of getting eaten by predators in the wild is reduced. The young wildebeest does not have to worry at Beekse Bergen though. Visitors can already see the many newcomers when taking the walking route.

VicuñaIt is the first time in the history of Wissel Zoo that a Vicuña is born. Both mother and baby Vicuña are doing well and can be seen by the public. The sex of the newborn still needs to be determined which should happen one of these days.

The female was moved to Wissel Zoo on her own in the spring this year and as soon as male had been found, it was supposed to have joined her. As she was on her own, noone expected a birth but nonetheless at the beginning of this week, the phone of the headkeeper rang: there were two legs sticking out below the tail of the Vicuña. About 15 minutes later, the little one was born and another 30 minutes after that, it was already on its feet and walking along it's mother. In the Zoo where the female was prior to moving to Wissel, she was with a male and they must have mated prior to her leaving for Wissel Zoo.

Dik-dikOver at the Dik-diks, the young is the 13th Dik-dik born at Wissel Zoo. On 10 August, the one day old Dik-dik was weighed and received an ID chip. Furthermore, the sex was determined: it's a boy. With Dik-diks, it is important to do these things when the young is only a day or two old as after that it will be so fast that it is almost impossible to catch.

The Dik-dik can be seen by the public but you would have to look very well since it is still sleeping a lot in the high grass.

Long-nosed PotorooThe young from the Long-nosed Potoroo can not yet be seen by the public. Potoroo's have pouches and the young one crawls into the warm comfy pouch of it's mother directly after birth.

Twins were born at the White-headed marmosets in the new Amazona from Aqua Zoo Friesland. The young often sit on the back of two different adults and are being watched by the rest of the group. The twins can be seen by the public but you would have to look very closely because they are very difficult to spot in between the long hair of the adult. The sex of the two is not yet known and will be determined at the health check.

After the chute was opened, after an initial hesitation, the first painted dog went outside follwed by the rest. They inspected their new enclosure full of enthusiasm; there was plenty of sniffing and looking. The five are already at ease and can be viewed by the public now.

Elephant Mingalar Oo gave birth to a healthy son this morning, 08 August.

The weight of the baby ele is estimated to be around 100 kg. His name is Shwe Myarr which is Burmese for golden arrow.

He was born on the birthday of his four year old aunt Shwe Zin who together with her mom keep a constant eye on the newborn. The whole herd is always close to the little one, only Radza the father keeps away.

Shwe Myarr is the 23rd elephant born at Emmen Zoo, of which 19 have been male. For Mingalar Oo, it's the 3rd son. The herd of elephants at Emmen Zoo consists of 13 elephants which makes it one of the biggest in Europe.

The Souther Tamandua lives in forest areas in the east of the Andes. Thanks to its sharp claws and their strong tail, which they use as their fifth leg, they are excellent climbers. Whenever they are on the ground they walk on the sides of their feet to avoid injuring themselves with their claws.

40 CENTIMETER LONG TONGUEThe Southern Tamandua eats mostly termites but also bees and ants. Thanks to its good sense of smell, it finds the nests of the tree living ants and termites. With its sharp front claws, it breaks the nest open and with its 40 centimeter long and sticky tongue it gets the ants out of the nest. The anteater eats around 9000 ants and termites a day.

BREEDING PROGRAMMEThe anteaters in the Kleine Zoogdierenhuis are a male and a female. Artis also participates in the European Breedingprogramme of the Southern Tamandua.

The second offspring from giraffe mother Diamant was born on Sunday after 15.5 months gestation. The little one is probably a male of around 60 kg. Mother Diamant delivered around 22h24 in the stables of the lodge. The keepers were witness of a long but also quick delivery. The contractions started at 16h00. From the moment of seeing feet to the eventual drop 3 1/2 hours passed. In general a rather long delivery but for Diamant a vast improvement to her previous one.

The newborn was already standing on its long legs, 20 minutes after the fall (of about 2 meters). He is estimated to be around 1.8 m tall.

You can participate in naming the little giraffe by filling in this poll. The keepers made a list of 5 beautiful African names with their meaning.

The Gentoo Penguins in the Oceanium from Blijdorp have given birth to two young, a premiere for Blijdorp and The Netherlands. In total, three eggs were laid of which two hatched. The parents immediately took care of the young and even build little nests of stones as they would in the wild. This way the eggs and possibly young stay in their place. The Gentoo Penguins arrived in Blijdorp in 2009 and were the first zoo in The Netherlands where they could be seen. These fast swimming penguins share the enclosure with the Emperor Penguins who have also laid (five) eggs...

The Emperor Penguins are not let to breed the eggs themselves. They have been put in the breeding machine by the keepers and replaced with wooden eggs. This way the the animals won't notice the difference and keep breeding. When the chicks hatch, they get quickly returned to the parents so that they can raise them. This trick is done because the eggs of an Emperor Penguin are less likely to make it than those of the Gentoo Penguin.

Beginning July, a group of African Wild Dogs arrived at Zoo Parc Overloon. These dogs who have a reputation of being cruel and cunning hunters are in reality very intelligent and social animals who on top of that have a certain charisma.

Zoo Park Overloon is very proud of the arrival of the five males! The wild dogs are currently behind the scenes to get used to their new environment. After a while they will be getting to know the outside enclosure which is when they can be admired by visitors.

Vogelpark Avifauna now has three more of the very rare Visayan Tarictic Hornbills. This is very special as this species has never been born in Europe and outside the Philippines can only be found in two other places in the world.

In the wild, the Visayan Tarictic Hornbill (Penelopides Panini Panini) can only be found on a number of Philippine islands. It's one of the most endangered hornbill species, the wild population is estimated to be less than 1000.

The biggest threats are trade, hunting and deforestation. To protect the habitat of this bird, Vogelpark Avifauna and Chester Zoo in the UK started a project where they work together with the Philippine authorities. In addition, Vogelpark Avifauna and Chester Zoo have started a European Breeding programme to serve as a 'back up' for the wild population.

This is the first year that the pair laid eggs and that chicks hatched. The female currently sits together with the chicks totally closed in in a tree in the Philippine hall of the Vogelpark. It will take about a month before the female comes out of the tree and another month until the chicks will come out. When the little ones come out they will fly out immediately.

The difference between males and female hornbills is easy to spot. The male Visayan Tarictic Hornbill is white and the females are black so when the chicks come flying out, it is easy to figure out if they are male or female by looking at their colour.